Kereta Nasional Ketiga - Not use public funds but....

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has given his assurance that the government would not use public funds for the third national car project.

A Berita Harian report dated Jan 20, 2019 quoted Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Yusoff Sulaiman saying that the company to spearhead the third national car project would be chosen in a National Development Council meeting on Jan 28.

Two companies mentioned in the report were Sime Darby Auto Engineering and SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd, which are both government linked corporations (GLC).

If we take a look at the shareholding structure of Sime Darby, PNB holds 52%, EPF 10% and KWAP 6%. The principal investor of SilTerra, meanwhile, is Khazanah Nasional Bhd, the strategic investment arm of the Malaysian government. Founded in 1995 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was Prime Minister, SilTerra is known to be a loss-making semiconductor manufacturer. It had cumulative losses totalling RM7.3 billion for 10 years up to 2011. DAP's Damansara MP Tony Pua raised doubts over its performance back in 2008.

These are alarming. Are GLCs supported by government funds? Are government funds sourced from the public?

Should SilTerra be given the green light to participate in this third national car project, will DAP speak up? Or will it remain silent?

Pakatan Harapan repeatedly emphasises that the treasury is empty and yet it is adamant about going ahead with the third national car and the crooked bridge projects. What an irony!

The population of Malaysia is not huge and so the local automobile market is small. What’s more, we already have two national cars, namely Proton and Perodua.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad should have learned from the past. Instead of investing in the automobile industry, he should prioritise the development of the public transport system.

If the government insists on using public funds on the third national car project, it is feared that imported cars would come with a heftier price tag, which will increase the financial burden of the people.

The third national car should not be a priority, and the government shouldn’t use public funds for the project.

If the third national car project is indeed developed with people’s money, what say you, Lim Guan Eng?